That’s the kind of thing I wanted more of, taking the most of this opportunity.įollowing in the footsteps of the John Carter movie, the series had Therns on earth, which actually, in proper ERB lore, isn’t that farfetched, since it is known that Barsoomians may have visited earth in periods of immense antiquity, and some Barsoomians even speak English, Chinese, and Russian due to their observation of earth (the purpose of clothes totally baffles them).According to the most widely-accepted histories, the Red Martian race is the result of centuries of interbreeding between the fair-skinned Orovar, the black-skinned First Born, and the yellow-skinned Okar. In fact, Opar itself was a Barsoomian outpost on Ancient Earth. The unpublished Tarzan on Mars from 1962 did a layup: La of Opar, who was implied to be immortal and may or may not have had weird powers, who was from a city that was a baroque outpost of an advanced civilization that went to seed, was revealed in Tarzan on Mars to be Barsoomian. The other critique is that the series didn’t try to “mix mythologies.” If the purpose of a series is fanservice it should be judged on its fanservice, right? Other projects attempted to mingle the Tarzan and Barsoom mythos more effectively. Unfortunately except for a bit at the end, Jane (who at this point in the series was no longer the fainting hostage seen in Tarzan the Terrible) didn’t really do much. One, I was fascinated by the idea it was Tarzan and Jane on Barsoom, which was an intriguing wrinkle that had my full attention. He had a gift for cunning plotting and “plans within plans,” and who wanted his enemies to fight each other, hence the reason for the crossover. The part that I liked best was the villain, who was essentially a Thern version of Baron Harkonnen, a grotesquely obese nobleman pedophile who seems to be ruled by his disgusting appetites…but who you underestimate at your peril. I thought that was an intriguing series and I really liked it. No water, and no other vegetation than the moss was in evidence, and as I was somewhat thirsty I determined to do a little exploring.” John Carter Barsoom Dejah Thoris Edgar Rice Burroughs Richard Corben Den Comics Here and there were slight outcroppings of quartz-bearing rock which glistened in the sunlight and a little to my left, perhaps a hundred yards, appeared a low, walled enclosure about four feet in height. It was midday, the sun was shining full upon me and the heat of it was rather intense upon my naked body, yet no greater than would have been true under similar conditions on an Arizona desert. No water, and no other vegetation than the moss was in evidence, and as I was somewhat thirsty I determined to do a little exploring.” Comics Dejah Thoris Barsoom Jay Anacleto Den Richard Corben I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish the irregularities of low hills. I found myself lying prone upon a bed of yellowish, mosslike vegetation which stretched around me in all directions for interminable miles. You do not question the fact neither did I. I was not asleep, no need for pinching here my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. I knew that I was on Mars not once did I question either my sanity or my wakefulness. I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. “ I looked first at my lifeless clay there upon the floor of the cave and then down at myself in utter bewilderment for there I lay clothed, and yet here I stood but naked as at the minute of my birth. Immediately came to mind when, a few years later (ERB’s novels were nigh impossible to find when I was a teen, and badly mistranslated), I read this: I had no trouble imagining Dejah, and the other Barsoomians, naked, and have always been amused by artists’ attempts to clothe them. “ She was as destitute of clothes as the green Martians who accompanied her indeed, save for her highly wrought ornaments she was entirely naked, nor could any apparel have enhanced the beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure.” I just wanted to explain why, when I read this: Oh, I perfectly understand the constraints American artists are operating under.
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